Pawlenty calls Obama "chicken"

Once again displaying a sharper tone to combat the perception that he’s “too nice,” former Gov. Tim Pawlenty called President Obama “chicken” on Monday for not addressing entitlement spending.

“He’s got all this soaring rhetoric, but the fact of the matter is he’s chicken to address the real issues,” Pawlenty said of Obama during an interview on “Fox and Friends.”

Pawlenty also said that Obama “whiffed” on the State of the Union, which he labeled abysmal.

Pawlenty has gone after the president several times over the past few weeks as he inches closer to a presidential run. The biggest knock on Pawlenty’s presidential ambitions is that he lacks “pizzazz,” and is simply too nice.

The Fox anchor picked up on Pawlenty’s remark, and asked if they were seeing a “tougher Tim Pawlenty.” As he often handles that question by mentioning "Minnesota nice," Pawlenty responded: “Don’t confuse being nice with being weak.”